Day trip to Ithaca

Kefalonia Excursions

Pippa R 10/10

My friend and I have sailed on board the 'Mythos' before and all I can say is it's the perfect day to spend on the beautiful Ionian Sea. The crew are very helpful and friendly - nothing is too much trouble. Ithaca is picturesque and friendly. My friend is disabled, but was able to get on and off the boat with the help of Captain Costas and the crew, including an Englishman named Chris. Chris also gives a commentary as you sail, so that you learn about the history and interesting features of Kefalonia and Ithaca. With the opportunity to swim from the boat at different deserted, beautiful beaches, plus an on-board bar, what more could you want?!

ONE OF THE HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR 2 WEEK STAY! Captain Vangeli's cruise was lovely- the crew were very friendly and funny
One swim stop on the way there- you can jump off the boat for a swim! Vathi the capital was very picturesque and quite touristy, with lovely bakeries! Then Keoni a small fishing village, also very pretty with good tavernas for lunch. Another swim stop on the way back, which is very fun to do I suggest bringing rings and snorkels here. Cannot reccommend them more highly (15% discount to cruise again)!! Allowed my little brother to drive the ship, and then recieve a certificate About 35 euros for adults 25 for kids. AMAZING!!

Booked this trip through Captain Vangelis in skala,and what a great day it was too,for me my wife and son it cost 90 euro's in total,got a 10% discount if you book car hire at greekstones!!!,stopped off at vathi and kioni,had a couple of stop offs for swims and returned back at around 4.45ish,

Went an a coach trip to Ithaca with Avalon Travel, a special offer of 28 euros each which worked out at £48, excellent value. It was an excellent day, with a good guide, thanks Elvira, and a boat trip and swim stop included. I would recommend it even at the full price of 40 euros

Visiting Kefalonia for the 1st time next week and eager to visit Ithaca for the day - we are staying in Lourdas - what is the best way to go - car hire and ferry or boat trip and what are the highlights on the islands. Thanks Justine

Went on Captian Vangelis boat trip from the beach at Scala, stopped for a swim off the boat on our way to Ithaka, saw dolphins. Had stops in Vathi and Kioni ( hour and half at each). stopped for another swim on way back. Great value and lovely boat trip - 25 euro, bar and toilet on board..

Did a day cruise round Ithaka with Etam Travel (on the main road in Lassi) - 35 euros very well spent as it was a very hot day and great to be on a boat - two swimming stops, a shopping stop and a lunch stop; with much gawping at some of the megayachts parked up round the island. A great day out!

Depends what you want really - a good boat trip ( like the Sami Star from Sami ) will take you to Vathy ( Ithaca's capital ) and Kioni. If you take the car ferry it will give you the chance to explore more of the island. There is plenty of accom on Ithaca but it would be wise to book if you are going in August as that's when most mainlanders visit and accom will be scarce. The northern part of Ithaca has the lovely towns of Frikes and Stavros.

Is it best to take a car over to Ithaca or go on a boat trip? Also how long does the journey take on the car ferry? Does anyone know if its easy to find overnight accommodation if we wanted to stay there? Which are the best spots to head for? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Went on this day trip with CBR in Scala. Quite expensive but well worth it. The coach picked us up at Scala and we caught the ferry at Sami. The tour guide spoke excellent English and the coach had air con. It was very well organised. We visited about 4 places on the island and stopped for lunch at Vathi.

Most mornings from our hotel (Paspalis ) in Scala we watched the boarding (by step ladder) of the glass bottom boat, which normally looked quite crowded. Then one day we drove to Sami (about one hour )where we caught the Sami Star (a much larger boat with four toilets and a bar/cafe on board ) with about 25 people to Ithica. We set of at nine stopping at Vathy and Kioni for about 2 hours each ,then on the way home stopped at a cute bay for a swim in the crystal clear waters of the med arriving back at Sami at five. superb value for 25 euros

We have been going to Kefalonia for 5 years but took the ferry over to Ithaca for the first time this year.It was great and i would recommend it to everyone.You should definatly take a car over on the ferry,it goes about 8.30 every morning from Sami and comes back at about 3.30 and another at about 4.30.We had to get the tickets from a guy selling them at the port from the boot of his car 'his office'.

I am going to Kefalonia in a couple of weeks and would like to visit Ithaca while i am there. I would like to know if car ferries run regularly from Sami since I would prefer to explore the island on my own. Also how long will it take to get to Sami from Skala approximately? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you.

This was one trip we were looking forward to but we booked with Kosmar and should of known disaster was not too far behind!! We got as far as docking in Vathi and the time we were due to depart we had an announcement that there was a problem we later discovered the Port Authority had withheld the Captain from returning to the ship so they terminated our cruise as there was a problem with the engine? We had to get the only bus of the island to ferry us to another port and await a ferry to collect us and return us to Sami where we then collected our coaches which in total took 7hours to do!! The only consolation is we were given a full refund ( we hope as now need to request this in wrting)

It is an early start this day trip(7am from the Princess Hotel, Lassi!!) especially if you are in Lassi but highly recommended. Myself and my fiancee had a great time. Would say that the first place Stavros is OK(pretty quiet) but Kioni and the capital Ithaca are great places to visit and the boat trips to and from Sami are good and very well organised.

When we did this trip we got back about 5pm which was good also - some other trips in different countries I have been to didn't finish til much later and then you're cream crackered!!

A must do whilst you are in Kefalonia - was €34 plus €6 for the Ferry to and from Sami.

Dya trip to Ithaca was nice, we went with Esmee from Etam Excursions and the woman appears to know everything. She's excellent and gives some great advice. However, I'm pretty sure all the restaurants and that she points out are the most expensive and they give her free food for advising us to eat there. I'm not sure mind, just a little skepticle.

Ithaca was very peaceful and calm, it certainly is an excellent day out, however I was shattered by the end of it.

Ithaka was a lovely island and would have been amazing had we explored on our own. However, we went on a day tour with Airtours/My Travel and the day consisted of a coach trip around the island. We visited a lovely resort for lunch (unfortunatley I can't remember what it was called as I was travel sick from so much coach travel). We were advised to take our swim suits by the tour operator as we would be "exploring the rugged coast line"; the nearest we did to this was boarding/departing the ferry! Next year we're going to hire a boat from Simi and do the journey ourselves, which I'm really looking forward to.

Being at the end of September 2005, we caught the last sailing around the island. I was expecting some swimming stops so took my snorkel gear - unfortunately it was not to be. The old wooden boat was lovely. There were only about 40 of us on the boat so it was a comfortable day. We had two village stop offs - Vathi was very quaint and pleasant (nice craft bits to buy) and then Kioni (or something like that!) - just had restaurants there and had 2 hours to amuse ourselves. Had an expensive lunch there.

Trip to Ithaca was amazing. Breath taking sights and beautiful villages. We went to Kioni and Vathi, both stunning little harbour towns. Mountain roads quite windy and narrow which is a bit scary on a bus buit would reccommend visiting ithaca.

If you want super trips go with Panem Tours who have offices in Skala and Lassi (not sure where else)

Great reps with no time wasted at all every trip is arranged so that you have full value for money. We have been on every trip they offer and in some cases again on a subsequent year. For anyone going to Kefalonia for the first time I strongly recommend Panem Tours.